The Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) today issued a statutory claim against TikTok over the platform’s failure to block content that insults the Royal Institution of Malaysia. There was content from accounts claiming to be related to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim that was insulting, false, threatening and offensive, including AI videos with manipulated images. This content potentially violates Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 as well as other penal laws.
Indian mobile users browse through the Chinese owned video-sharing ‘Tik Tok’ app on a smartphones in Amritsar on June 30, 2020. – TikTok on June 30 denied sharing information on Indian users with the Chinese government, after New Delhi banned the wildly popular app citing national security and privacy concerns.
“TikTok continues to comply with all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law and have not shared any information of our users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese Government,” said the company, which is owned by China’s ByteDance. (Photo by NARINDER NANU / AFP)
SKMM stated that TikTok’s moderation response was not satisfactory, despite prior notification and discussions. The Bytedance-owned platform is considered to have failed to act promptly to prevent the spread of harmful content. In the statutory demand issued, SKMM asked TikTok to take immediate remedial measures, including strengthening its content moderation mechanism. They also need to implement more effective enforcement against content that violates Malaysian law and provide an official explanation for their moderation failures.
SKMM stressed that it will continue to take necessary and proportionate actions, including additional legal action, to address the abuse of online platforms. Platform providers are also stressed that they need to act promptly, especially on sensitive issues of 3R (Religion, Race, Royal Institutions).
